How to write a State of the Union speech

How to write a State of the Union speech Big promises, special guests and social media influencers have become a routine part of the EU’s most high-profile address. By GABRIEL GAVINin Brussels Illustration by Arnau Busquets Guàrdia/POLITICO For the past six months, officials across Brussels have been feeding ideas, demands and policy pledges into Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the Union speech. Its contents, however, will remain a closely guarded secret until the European Commission president takes the podium on Wednesday. The speech is the product of a sprawling process involving Commission departments, national officials, experts, lobbyists and interest groups. Yet the final decisions — what makes the cut, what is discarded and what becomes the central message — are made by a tiny circle around the president. “There was a process where everybody would ask for something,” said Margaritis Schinas, a former Commission vice-president who helped prepare previous addresses. “But there was also a process where the president and the cabinet and ourselves were very clear on the few things to harvest that would make an impact.” Advertisement The challenge, he said, is to make everyone feel their concerns are being addressed while avoiding a “Christmas tree approach” of ornamental policy pledges with no clear overall direction. Modeled on the U.S.’s own centuries-old tradition, the EU’s State of the Union was set up in 2010 as a rare chance for politicians and citizens to hear directly from the president of the executive. In the years since, the speech has become a watershed moment for the Commission to lay out its political agenda. “In these 10 years, the Commission … transitioned from being a regulator and an enforcer to being a manager of crises, of migration centers, of [emergency situations]. The more tasks the Commission assumed over the years, the more relevant [the speech] became,” said Schinas, who also served as chief spokesperson under former Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Jean-Claude Juncker delivers his State of the Union speech on Sept. 12, 2018 in Strasbourg. | Frederick Florin/AFP via Getty Images And with von der Leyen approaching the final quarter of her time in office, she has an increasingly narrow window of opportunity to pass the policies that will define her second mandate. The speech — which usually lasts around an hour — is the result of almost half a year of behind-the-scenes work, current and former presidential aides told POLITICO, with heated negotiations between officials, departments, experts and interest groups being concluded before a single word is finalized. “There’s input from the services, the directors-general feed in. There have been 300 lunches and papers that get read through by basically two people, and may or may not end up in there,” said one senior EU official, granted anonymity to speak on the internal process, like others in this article. Advertisement The text can remain open for changes until the early hours of the morning before the speech. The inner circle This year, the full draft is being kept within a tight circle until the final days. That includes von der Leyen, her powerful head of cabinet Bjoern Seibert and her communications chief Alexandra Henman. The wider Commission machinery is still heavily involved. Teams across departments are asked to crunch numbers, check policy recommendations and consult stakeholders, including industry groups and think tanks. The Directorate-General for Communication, run by von der Leyen ally and former Romanian journalist Dana Spinant, works on lists of achievements, shareable clips and commitments for social media. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, during her State of the Union address on Sept. 13, 2023 in Strasbourg. | Frederick Florin/AFP via Getty Images It also coordinates with media outlets across the 27 EU countries to get the message out. This year, dozens of national journa